Harry Malfoy's Trials | Book One

| First Week of Classes

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."

"Wearing the glasses?"

"Did you see his face?"

"Did you see his scar?"

Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the next day. He sat down at the Gryffindor Table looking longingly at Slytherin during breakfast. Draco was there, his glasses slightly down his nose as he stared longingly at Harry. There was a storm of feathers and Harry looked up to see owls of every shade and shape filling the ceiling of the Great Hall, bringing the occupants letters from home as well as their subscription of the Daily Prophet. One of the Malfoy eagle owls flew towards Harry and dropped a red envelope in front of it. Harry's heart sank and the people sitting near him looked frightened as they moved as far as they could from Harry.

His hand trembled as he reached for the letter. His finger barely touched it when the letter exploded, the red enveloped seemingly turned into a mouth with the white paper inside barring a striking resemblance to teeth. Mr. Malfoy's voice boomed in the Great Hall:

HARRY MALFOY!

I AM SORELY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! NOT ONLY DID YOU RUIN THE MALFOY NAME BY FAILING TO BEING SORTED IN SLYTHERIN, BUT YOU DARE TO INSULT ME AND YOUR FAMILY BY BEING SORTED IN GRYFFINDOR! I THOUGHT THAT I'VE SMACKED THAT REBELLIOUS FOOLHARDY ATTITIUDE THAT YOU INHERITED FROM YOUR ANNOYANCE OF A FATHER BUT I GUESS I WAS WRONG! YOU'VE BROUGHT SHAME TO MY FAMILY AS WELL AS ONTO YOURSELF!

IF YOU TRY TO CONTINUE YOUR IDIOTIC REBELLION AGAINST ME, I'LL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO CORRECT YOU MYSELF! I WILL NOT HAVE A GRYFFINDOR IN THE MALFOY FAMILY, DO YOU HEAR ME HARRY? ALL THOSE YEARS RAISING YOU TO BE A PROPER MALFOY WASTED BY THIS STUPID SORTING! WHAT DID YOU DO, BOY? DID YOU BEG THE HAT TO SORT YOU INTO GRYFFINDOR? DID YOU THINK THAT IT WOULD BE FUNNY TO INSULT ME, YOUR FATHER, AND TRY TO BE LIKE THOSE CORPSES THAT GAVE BIRTH TO YOU?

YOU WILL APPOLOGIZE AT ONCE FOR THIS INEXCUSABLE MANNER OR ELSE I WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT REMOVE YOU FROM THE FAMILY!

The letter ripped itself up and burned into flames, leaving a small pile of ash in front of Harry. The hall was absolutely silent. Nobody knew how to respond to this: Not once in Hogwarts history did a parent send a Howler because of the Sorting Ceremony. The Gryffindors near Harry looked at the small boy apprehensively. Harry was staring at the small pile of ash. His body was shaking, he seemed to be hyperventilating, his small mouth open as he tried to breath, tears already staining his cheeks, his glasses in disarray. He felt small, small and trapped. He had to get away. He pushed roughly from the table, falling onto the floor. He scrambled to his feet, and in the same strange silence the entire student body watched as Harry ran out of the hall, crying. Followed swiftly by Draco Malfoy.

Professor McGonagall looked at the Headmaster. "This is too much," she said. "To think that Mr. Malfoy would act so... heinous to his own child!"

"You are correct Minerva," Headmaster Dumbledore said with a serious frown. "We shall contact him at once."

"At once? I've have half a mind to send him a howler myself!" Professor McGonagall said.

Professor Dumbledore nodded, "The feeling is mutual, Minerva, but first we much check on young Harry. I've done a heinous act to him as well years ago, I believe it is time to repent."

Harry didn't know which way he was running, he just wanted to be away from the castle. The boy ran down a sloping green hill towards a tall forest. On the outskirts of the forest was a little hut with a smoking chimney. Harry ran down, crying all the way, until he slipped and skidded down the rest of the hill, which he stayed. Draco caught up with him and immediately wrapped his arms around his little brother. "It's okay, it's okay," Draco soothed. "Everything's going to be okay."